SINGAPORE: Piyush Gupta, CEO of Singapore's biggest bank DBS Group and one of the highest-paid CEOs in the country, saw his total compensation drop 27.3 per cent for 2023, according to the lender's annual report published on Wednesday (Mar 6).
Gupta's total compensation fell to S$11.2 million (US$8.34 million) in 2023 from S$15.4 million in 2022, the annual report showed.
The lower total compensation followed a 30 per cent cut in his variable pay to take accountability for last year's digital banking disruptions at DBS, even as Southeast Asia's largest lender posted a record 2023 profit with a return of equity of 18 per cent.
"Despite record 2023 profits and outperformance in many areas, the gaps in technology resiliency resulted in a lower scorecard appraisal by the Board compared to the previous year," the bank said in its annual report.
DBS added that its falling short in technology resiliency and the resultant impact on customers and franchises "were taken into account when determining the scorecard performance of both the Group and the CEO".
Mr Gupta's 30 per cent variable pay cut amounted to S$4.14 million, DBS announced last month as part of its quarterly earnings statement.
Other members of the group management committee also had a reduction in their variable pay.
“We announced that we’re taking accountability at the senior management, starting with me, but also the rest of my senior management team. I think that's a good element of governance," Mr Gupta said at a results briefing on Feb 7.
"If you can establish accountability and figure that people take responsibility for making fixes, that's a good place to start. We’ve been able to demonstrate that and that’s obviously despite a record profit year,” he told reporters.
“Nevertheless, we decided to take collective responsibility for this.”
The series of banking disruptions prompted the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to bar DBS from any acquisitions of new business ventures for six months.
DBS was also made to pause non-essential IT changes for six months and was not allowed to reduce the size of its branch and ATM networks in Singapore.
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Gupta's total compensation fell to S$11.2 million (US$8.34 million) in 2023 from S$15.4 million in 2022, the annual report showed.
The lower total compensation followed a 30 per cent cut in his variable pay to take accountability for last year's digital banking disruptions at DBS, even as Southeast Asia's largest lender posted a record 2023 profit with a return of equity of 18 per cent.
"Despite record 2023 profits and outperformance in many areas, the gaps in technology resiliency resulted in a lower scorecard appraisal by the Board compared to the previous year," the bank said in its annual report.
DBS added that its falling short in technology resiliency and the resultant impact on customers and franchises "were taken into account when determining the scorecard performance of both the Group and the CEO".
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Mr Gupta's 30 per cent variable pay cut amounted to S$4.14 million, DBS announced last month as part of its quarterly earnings statement.
Other members of the group management committee also had a reduction in their variable pay.
“We announced that we’re taking accountability at the senior management, starting with me, but also the rest of my senior management team. I think that's a good element of governance," Mr Gupta said at a results briefing on Feb 7.
"If you can establish accountability and figure that people take responsibility for making fixes, that's a good place to start. We’ve been able to demonstrate that and that’s obviously despite a record profit year,” he told reporters.
“Nevertheless, we decided to take collective responsibility for this.”
The series of banking disruptions prompted the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to bar DBS from any acquisitions of new business ventures for six months.
DBS was also made to pause non-essential IT changes for six months and was not allowed to reduce the size of its branch and ATM networks in Singapore.
Continue reading...